Mark Pope’s vision for Kentucky basketball? ‘We’re searching for the magic of this game.’

Mark Pope needs basketball players. That much is obvious.

But as the new head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats goes about filling his roster for the 2024-25 season, he’ll have a larger goal in mind. The pieces he puts together over the next several weeks to form his first UK team will be crucial to the Cats’ success in year one of the Pope era. But these players — whoever they end up being — will probably leave Lexington with a greater legacy than the number of wins and losses on their record at the end of next season.

The next roster of Wildcats will form the foundation of Pope’s vision for the program. And, while simply pursuing the most talented options available at this relatively late stage of the roster-building process might be the most expedient path to immediate success, it would be a risky way to start forming the long-term culture of a program.

And, make no mistake, Pope is in this thing for the long haul. So he’s not expected to take any shortcuts.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Herald-Leader this week, Kentucky’s new coach talked extensively about what he’s looking for as he builds his first roster. Pope also discussed what he hopes to avoid as he traverses the transfer portal and identifies potential Wildcats for the 2024-25 season.

“If a player can’t see something bigger than himself, he’s not my guy. That’s just it,” Pope said, breaking away from his typically exuberant tone to make that declaration as matter-of-factly as possible. “And this is actually becoming less and less common that young people have the ability to see that there’s actually something more important than themselves. Something bigger than themselves.”

Starting with his opening remarks to the Kentucky fan base in that Rupp Arena coronation less than two weeks ago, Pope has made clear and reiterated what type of player he and his coaching staff will be seeking out on the recruiting trail.

Pope, a Wildcat for three years under coach Rick Pitino — and a captain of the near-perfect 1996 national championship team — has talked about seeking out guys that will view wearing a Kentucky basketball jersey as “one of the great honors of their life,” and he’s made clear that he expects to find those types of players as quickly as possible.

“We are looking for synergy here,” Pope told the Herald-Leader. “We’re looking for exactly what we said: for when guys make a connection, that’s when things happen. That’s what elevates you as an individual. In this game of basketball, the great players and the great teams understand that, ‘Me being by your side actually elevates me.’ Like, ‘The way I’m going to become the best player that I can possibly be is by tapping into you, my teammate.’ And I think that’s the beauty of the game. I think that’s what attracts people to the game. I think that’s what makes fans feel connected to the game.

“And so if I was going to give you one nonstarter: if there’s somebody that’s just completely inward-looking, they’re just not going to work for me. I think those guys can go on and be good players. But we’re searching for something better, man. We’re searching for the magic of this game. You know what it feels like when you go watch a team function together and you leave inspired. That’s what we’re looking for. That’s why I love coaching. That’s why I love this game.”

‘Building a culture’ of UK basketball

Pope has already told the story of his first days in Lexington back in 1993, a transfer from Washington joining a UK team that was coming off a Final Four run the previous season with even bigger goals in mind for the immediate future.

On the day he was reintroduced in Rupp Arena two weeks ago, Pope told the tale of heading over to Memorial Coliseum at 11:30 one night 31 years ago to get some work in, hoping to “catch up” to his new teammates on the court and assuming he’d be the only one in the gym at that late hour.

He heard balls bouncing as soon as he opened the door, then saw — from his recollection — Derek Anderson, Tony Delk, Jared Prickett and Jeff Sheppard already in a full sweat.

“Those guys taught me how to work,” Pope said that day in Rupp. “I learned about resilience here.”

Whoever plays for him at Kentucky will need to learn the same. When talking about the “culture” he wants to create around UK’s program, Pope skipped the cliches and generalities that often greet such questions, going far beyond the “play for the name on the front of the jersey” ideals that he and other coaches often adopt.

Pope put his specific vision for this program — and his overall philosophy on team culture — in much more personal terms.

“I think when we talk about building a culture, a lot of times we think about it like, ‘You build it, and then it’s done.’ You build a house, and there’s your house, right? But this is way different,” Pope said. “This is more like growing people. A team is every bit of a living organism. And if you’re a growing person, you’ve gotta eat every day. And you’ve gotta sleep every day. And you’ve gotta learn every day. And you’ve gotta be inspired every day. And so it’s something you manicure every single day. And also a part of growing is getting way outside your comfort zone.

“I think sometimes we say, ‘Building a culture,’ and we kind of think it’s like words we put on a wall. Really, building a culture is like words we put in people’s hearts. And then they communicate those. And people are living, growing, dynamic organisms. So the same word to one person might mean something different three weeks from now than it means today. And that’s why this is so great.”

Pope spoke of team culture not as something that is handed down solely by coaches and reinforced along the way, but as a concept that is spread from player to player until everyone shares the same mindset, another nod to his viewpoint that teammates can and should be elevated by each other.

When everyone on the team is on the same page and shares common, collective goals, that team and those players will find success — in one way or another — both as a group and as individuals.

Pope and his assistant coaches are obviously looking for talented players, guys who can — to borrow an oft-used line from his predecessor — pass, dribble and shoot. They want guys with size and length and basketball IQ.

But, seemingly, most of all, they’re going to be looking for players who will be willing to adhere to those “culture” concepts Pope is making so clear from the beginning. They’ve already found some.

Merging ‘culture’ and recruiting

So far, Pope has had nothing but good things to say about John Calipari and his achievements — four Final Fours and a national title, among them — over the past 15 seasons at Kentucky. But some of the new UK coach’s remarks — especially during that introductory press conference in Rupp — have been pointed out as thinly veiled references to the Calipari era, and how things are likely to go a little differently once Pope settles into the job.

Kentucky’s new coach has already said he’ll pursue one-and-done players — the type of recruit that some fans often bristled at, especially when they didn’t leave a banner behind on their way out of town — but Pope has also made it clear he wants guys that will stick around and develop.

Calipari often said he never made promises for what would happen during a star recruit’s short stay in Lexington, but his constant, public obsession with the NBA draft as the grand prize at the end of the college basketball rainbow surely fed what became a self-fulfilling prophecy of some players leaving this level of the sport before their time had truly come.

Pope will be looking to put guys in the league, too. But, so far, he hasn’t made that a major part of his pitch. And by not constantly hyping the NBA, he’s likely to attract a different sort of player.

The first two UK freshmen of the Pope era are not projected as one-and-dones, and it would be a relative shock if either ended up going that route.

While Collin Chandler and Travis Perry — both top 75 national recruits — lack immediate NBA draft upside, they’ll both come to Lexington with the cemented reputation of players who will go all-out in practice to earn whatever time they get in games.

That’ll be a start toward the kind of culture Pope envisions.

“To me, that’s infinitely valuable,” 247Sports national analyst Travis Branham told the Herald-Leader. “In terms of — having guys like that will set a standard for your culture moving forward and how you’re going to build this program. Kids with no egos, about the work, about winning. And they’re going to set that tone every single day, regardless of them being freshmen. In the unique case of Collin Chandler, a 21-year-old freshman.

“Obviously, players are going to be able to contribute and fit into his system right away. But they’re also going to be guys that can set a bar for what this culture is moving forward.”

Chandler will come to Kentucky straight from a two-year church mission trip that delayed the start of his college basketball career. Perry has played varsity ball since middle school and is Kentucky’s all-time leading scorer, leading Lyon County to a state title this past season.

Another potential addition — BYU guard Richie Saunders — also delayed college for a two-year mission and, according to Pope’s previous comments, embodies what he looks for in a teammate.

Former Drexel big man Amari Williams — the first transfer of the Pope era — was also the first recruit the new UK coach brought to campus and someone he’s clearly excited about as one of the foundational pieces to his program.

None of this is to say Pope won’t recruit high school superstars. He’s already said he will. And if a player is a “project” it doesn’t mean he won’t have a place at Kentucky, and if he’s a little behind in one of Pope’s key areas of importance on the court, it doesn’t mean UK’s coaches will pass.

Pope said he and his first assistants — Cody Fueger and Jason Hart — had a conversation Tuesday morning about a prospect with “an amazing trajectory” who hadn’t been playing basketball very long, and, therefore, probably wouldn’t be ready to perform at a high level right off the bat. That doesn’t mean he can’t be a Cat.

“So you take that into account,” Pope said. “Is a guy nearing his ceiling, or do we feel like he’s got a ton of space left? And I could go on for days about the things that we consider, but all of those things actually matter. And it’s a sliding scale on each of them, to kind of find out how it’s going to work.”

There are also plenty of five-star recruits who could immediately step into the culture Pope is talking about and thrive. Many of Calipari’s most successful players had that type of attitude.

To read Pope’s philosophy on team-building and draw the conclusion that there won’t be room for stars would be incorrect. Finding the right type of star is the key, and they’ll be available in every recruiting cycle. It’s just a matter of figuring out the proper fit and identifying the talents who might benefit from the type of situation Pope describes.

“For example, in just a really general idea, if I have a team that I think is rock solid — like they are dialed in and they’re together — it gives us more freedom to go take some big swings on some guys, where we have some momentum to actually bring them into the fold,” Pope said. “If we have a team that we’re just kind of trying to forge together — and we’re just putting a brand new team together — maybe we’re a little bit more hesitant to take huge, big risks, because we’re trying to make sure that the heart of what we’re doing is solid.”

So, how difficult is it not to “take chances” on the recruiting trail, especially when faced with the current task of basically building a roster from scratch?

“Listen, you always have to take chances,” Pope responds. “That’s actually a really stimulating part of building a program. We’re big-swing people. That’s why I’m here, right? Because we want to take a big swing. So that’s a very, very important part of building a program. If you’re not stretching and reaching and getting way out of your comfort zone, then we certainly don’t belong at this level.

“We should be pushing the envelope on everything we do.”

Wildcats get to work

Lynn Lloyd, the co-director of the Utah Prospects — the premier grassroots basketball program in that state — coached Collin Chandler on the Adidas circuit and became well familiar with Pope over the past several seasons.

He chuckled at a question related to Pope’s practice sessions while he was the head coach at BYU.

“I’m interested to see how that goes,” Lloyd told the Herald-Leader. “One thing that is known about Mark Pope is his practices are hard. He’s a goer. And Mark Pope is a committed guy, so he’s not asking anybody to do anything that he’s not involved in.

“But I just know their practices are a lot of work, and I think that’s a good thing.”

When that quote was relayed to Pope this week, he acknowledged that his practice sessions aren’t easy. He also talked about those practices as the real foundation of the culture he wants to cultivate here.

Going back to his playing days, Pope has been known as a worker. Pitino has said it. His Kentucky teammates have said it. His coaching contemporaries say it about him now.

He expects his players to work hard, but it’s not hard work for the sake of hard work, and he’s no drill sergeant on the practice floor. For Pope, those sessions are clearly the origin of the culture he hopes his teams will achieve.

Let him explain it.

“I think there’s a difference between comfortable and a difference between happy and a difference between joy,” Pope says. “And so I think ‘comfortable’ is kind of like doing what you do. It’s doing what you do — it’s kind of easy going. I think ‘happy’ is when you kind of enjoy what you’re doing. But I think ‘joy’ comes from growth. To me, joy is way deeper. Joy comes from inside of us. And it flows from our insides out. That’s what joy is. Joy is something that comes from our soul. And I think joy is what drives us to come back another day and put forth an effort that’s almost inconceivable — to even ourselves.

“And so when we talk about practice, for us — we are working as hard as we possibly can so we can get to that joy. And then that joy that we really try to foster in the gym through growth — that’s actually what gets us up the next morning to come do what most people would think is beyond their capacity, in terms of work. Because you just see yourself growing. And so, for us, it’s very much this work — to work so hard that you actually get to feel yourself do something you didn’t know you could do. And then from there, you have this incredibly rewarding joy. And that cycle just goes over and over and over again.

“So when we’re at our best, in terms of practice — in terms of getting stuff done on the floor — we’re going through that cycle over and over and over again. From work to a growth to a joy to a work to a growth to a joy — and it’s just rinse and repeat. And it’s addictive, actually. And so that’s what we’re trying to foster. And you can’t get to the growth if you don’t do the work. And you’re not going to get to the true joy unless you get to the growth. And that’s what we look for in our practices.”

Pope used the words “demanding” and “intense” to describe his practices. “But we’re also not oppressive,” he was quick to add. “We celebrate in practice. And we tease each other in practice. We talk smack in practice. We compete in practice. We’ll do crazy things in practice, because all of that also fosters the space of growth for our guys.”

And that’s where the culture begins. Chandler and Perry and Williams and whoever else joins this Kentucky program in the coming weeks will find that out pretty quickly. For Pope, the process of creating that culture with a whole new bunch of players is an exhilarating challenge that will start soon enough.

Finding the right mix of people to form that foundation will be crucial for the first chapter of his tenure as Kentucky’s coach. And, he hopes, whatever collective bond and good fortune his first group of Wildcats can find with each other on the practice floor will spread among that squad, to be passed on to the next roster, and beyond.

“When we do it right, it’s contagious. And so you’re striving to do it right every single day.”

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